The Houl, an Eco Friendly House by Simon Winstanley Architects

The Houl is a sustainable house designed by Simon Winstanley Architects. It is a contemporary single story house, created to achieve zero carbon emission by using some sustainable features. This eco friendly house received 2011 RIBA Award. Passive design is applied for this house. The sustainable building is located recessed to the landscape, near the river Ken valley [...]

The Houl is a sustainable house designed by Simon Winstanley Architects. It is a contemporary single story house, created to achieve zero carbon emission by using some sustainable features. This eco friendly house received 2011 RIBA Award. Passive design is applied for this house.

The sustainable building is located recessed to the landscape, near the river Ken valley and the ridges of the Rhinns of Kells hills, Scotland. Classic solar passive design concept was adopted to take advantages of natural sunlight and shading, to prevent overheating. The entrance of this eco friendly construction is facing the north east side, covered by the roof, providing a shelter to protect from strong wind. The principle rooms are located along the contour of the site to enjoy the spectacular views across the valley to the west. The service rooms, such as kitchen, utility room and a bathroom, are located at the rear side of the house.

To achieve net zero and / or energy efficient building, a tight and high performance envelope should be provided. This was done for this eco construction of The Houl. This construction of the house was built from lightweight but highly insulated steel and timber frame. The insulation adapts the Passiv Haus standard to achieve minimum heat loss. All of windows and doors are triple-paned. The other feature is the using of heat recovery ventilation system combined with heat pump, providing heats and cools for the house.

To provide natural day lighting for this green building, the slope of the roof of the main living space was set to adjust the slope of the hillside with the roof of the rear side meeting the main roof at a shallower angle. This will provide way for the morning sunlight to penetrate to the house through the windows. Again, alternative energy source is also used here to provide power, the wind turbine.

This beautiful sustainable home building’s exterior is clad by cedar weatherboarding, finished in natural silver gray color, while the roof is finished in pre-weathered grey standing seam zinc. It has been added to the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) shortlist of seventeen buildings for the 2011 RIBA Awards in Scotland.